


Drowning.

by head_ache



Category: Gorillaz
Genre: And Cyborg's pretty confused, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, Cyborg and 2D are besties, Gaslighting, Murdoc lies a lot, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Out of Character, Phase Three (Gorillaz), Sad Murdoc Niccals, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Tags Are Hard, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:11:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26140153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/head_ache/pseuds/head_ache
Summary: Murdoc tells a lot of lies, but Cyborg Noodle didn't know that until she met 2D.
Relationships: Cyborg Noodle & Stuart "2D" Pot, No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 78





	1. Chapter 1

Cyborg Noodle wasn't prepared for visitors that day, so when her creator arrived home with someone else she was already preparing her gun to shoot whoever was with her creator, expecting them to be some bad guy or something like that, so she clearly was surprised when her creator told her not to shoot. She obeyed, but still didn't lower her gun, eyeing intently who was with Creator. 

The stranger was unconscious, Creator was dragging him around and he seemed to be having some trouble with the stranger's long limbs. Normally, Cyborg Noodle would have immediately helped her creator as soon as she noticed he was struggling, but in this case, she was staring intently to the stranger so it took her some time to notice that Creator was waiting for her to help him. As soon as she noticed that, she put her gun aside and lifted the stranger by his long and thin legs, and helped Creator to take the stranger to the lowest room in their home, which was actually underwater. Actually, Cyborg wasn't allowed into that room before, so that was actually the first time she was getting there. Creator told her that the room was reserved for something special and important, so she wasn't allowed there until who they were waiting to get there, got there. She looked at the stranger again, and tried to figure out what was so special about him, why was Creator waiting for him, but she didn't find anything. Well- He did have very pretty blue hair. Maybe that was it. She was taken aback when she saw the room. She expected some amazing, extremely big room with super cool stuff, she didn't know what she considered cool, but she was sure she'd know when she saw it. And she didn't see it. The room was incredibly tiny, a bed that barely had any space there, a keyboard resting on the floor and a little window that didn't show anything apart from the sea they were in.

They layed the stranger on the bed, and Cyborg was sure they were going to leave, but her creator stayed there, staring at the stranger.

Creator hadn't told her anything about his past, nothing apart from the fact that she was made to look like Noodle, who apparently was someone special to Creator, but Cyborg didn't know much more than that, so she had no idea who this person could be, or even if Creator knew him before that.

"He's gonna live here with us, okay?" Creator said, taking Cyborg Noodle out of her thoughts.

"Yes." She said, wanting to ask who this person was.

They stayed there a little longer, and Cyborg was getting impatient. That's why she felt relieved when the stranger opened his eyes. She couldn't help but bring her attention to the stranger's eyes. They were completely black, and the only eyes she has ever seen were her Creator's eyes and her own, so eyes like that were clearly interesting as they were something completely new for her. And for a lot of people outside their home but she didn't know that.

The stranger sat up quickly and looked around with wide eyes, looking terrified, and when he saw Creator standing there, he frowned. Cyborg was already preparing her integrated guns just in case, since the stranger was clearly angry at Creator and she was created to protect him.

"Wha- What the fuck are you doing now, Murdoc?" Was the first thing that the stranger said, and Cyborg didn't like that. He wasn't talking to Creator the way they should talk to him, and he wasn't referring to him as Creator, who was Murdoc, anyway?

"What do you think I'm doing, genius?" Creator said, sarcastically as he crossed his arms.

"Well, I- I don't know! Some- S- Some selfish and stupid thing, I guess." The blue haired man answered clearly struggling to get his words out, and Cyborg decided she had enough, her mouth opened showing the gun there, and stood between Creator and the invasor, who looked frightened at her presence. "N-Noodle?"

"She's not Noodle, idiot. You know Noodle's dead-"

"That's your fault." The stranger mumbled, making Cyborg frown at that. Who did he think he was to talk to Creator like that?

"Shut up!" Creator yelled, scaring not only the blue haired invasor but Cyborg too. He put himself between the cyborg and the blue haired man, pushing her far from them, or at least as far as the tiny room let her. "Noodle's dead, Russel's lost, you're the only one I was able to find, 2D, so you are going to shut up and do what I say."

"The band already broke up, Murdoc, live with it." The stranger, who now Cyborg knew that Creator referred to as 2D said.

Clearly Creator and 2D didn't get along too well, so, why was Creator waiting for 2D? Why was he telling Cyborg that 2D was so important if they clearly didn't get along?

"No, Gorillaz will still go on, as long as I'm here." Creator said, to then turn to Cyborg and grab her arm, making her get close to 2D once again, then resting his hands on her shoulder. "See this?" He asked. "I made her with some of Noodle's DNA I found after the accident." He said, and 2D didn't look happy with that. "She would be our new guitarist."

"So you- You plan on replacing Noodle with a robot?" 2D asked, looking at Cyborg Noodle. "You're crazy."

"Well, like it or not, she's Gorillaz's guitarist now, so stop complaining, faceache." Creator said, patting one of Cyborg Noodle's shoulder. "And she's going to watch over you, ain't that right, luv?" Creator said, now looking at Cyborg. 

"Yes." She said, even if those were news to her. News she didn't like that much because of what she just saw, she didn't like 2D at all.

"What? You're not going to keep me here, are you?"

"Yes I am, 2D." Creator said, now walking to the door. "Have fun, I'll be back when I need you." He waved a hand before closing the door behind himself.

2D stood up from the bed and walked towards the door.

"Open the fucking door, you nasty old goth!" He yelled as he unsuccessfully tried to open the door himself. But Creator didn't answer, what's more, Cyborg was sure Creator didn't even hear 2D anymore.

The blue haired man sighed and sat on the floor, covering his face with his hands.

Cyborg was looking at him in silence, hoping he would move soon. But he didn't move, he was almost completely still. Only his chest raising by every breath he took. Cyborg's chest didn't do that because she wasn't human and she didn't need to breathe. Just something she noticed.

She took that opportunity to speak to 2D, because if they were going to be together then they needed to get some things clear.

"You shouldn't talk to him like that."

"Huh?" 2D raised his gaze to Cyborg's face, unable to see her eyes through her thick bangs.

"You shouldn't talk to Creator like that." She repeated, and 2D sighed at that, standing up. 

It was weird for Cyborg to be scared, since she was literally built to be a walking gun, but the height of the stranger felt so threatening that she couldn't help but take a couple steps back. But the way he looked at her, so softly even if he was obviously annoyed, made her relax a bit. Creator never looked at her like that, so she didn't know if it was good or bad, but it was weird, calming, but weird.

"You mean Murdoc?" He asked, leaning forward a bit, getting a little bit closer to Cyborg Noodle, looking at her face or at least at what wasn't covered by her hair.

"Creator." She simply said, and 2D sighed at that.

"His name is Murdoc." He said. "I get that he made you, but he's making you treat him like a… Like a God when he's nothing near that."

Cyborg frowned. She really didn't like the way 2D spoke about Creator. 2D was nothing above Creator so he didn't have the right to talk about him like that.

"Call him Creator, he's Creator." She insisted.

"He didn't create me." 2D crossed his arms.

"He didn't?"

2D took some time to answer that, but Cyborg had patience, so she waited. The blue haired man looked surprised at that question, clearly not expecting Cyborg's clueless state of mind. She really didn't know anything about anything. And, well, on the other hand, Murdoc did kind of create him, or at least who he was now, but that didn't matter, he was his own person, or at least he tried to be.

"No, he didn't." He shook his head no, and Cyborg seemed to not understand.

Murdoc really did create his own reality and someone to believe everything he said. That was kind of what he did to 2D, made him believe that he was his savior and that he cared about him when in reality he was doing nothing but abuse him. That made 2D wonder what Murdoc had done to the robotic girl standing in front of him and what crazy reality did he make her believe in.

2D sighed once again. Cyborg wondered how many times he sighed since he got there.

"He really had to make you look exactly like Noodle, huh." He mumbled, now standing straight up and walking to the bed, sitting there.

Yeah, she knew she looked like Noodle, but still had no idea who Noodle was. She knew her name and how she looked, well, she now knew that Noodle was dead, too.

"I was made to replace Noodle." She explained.

"I know, but you're not Noodle." 2D answered, now laying on the bed, looking at the ceiling.

"Who's Noodle?"

2D once again took some time to answer.

"My little sister."

Cyborg frowned. That didn't make sense at all.

"How does Creator know her?" She asked, walking towards 2D, still standing straight up with her hands on her sides.

The blue haired man chuckled as he closed his eyes and ran a hand through his blue hair that still interested Cyborg.

"He really hasn't told you anything, wow." Was what 2D said. Cyborg started to feel frustrated. Apparently Creator was hiding things from her, things that 2D knew, and she didn't have any idea of what he was talking about. She didn't want to believe that Creator wasn't telling her something important, but he didn't tell her about 2D and still referred to him as someone special and important, so maybe Creator was in fact hiding things from her. "We were a band." He said, catching Cyborg's attention. "We were also like some sort of family, a dysfunctional one, but a family after all." A little smile took place on his face. "We met Noodle when she was just a little kid, we raised her, took care of her. Now that I think about it, we were a family mainly because of her, she made us act like one."

"She's dead." 2D's smile disappeared at that.

"Y-Yeah, she is." He mumbled.

"Why?"

"It's Murdoc's fault." 2D said quickly, sitting on the bed once again, his eyes opened wide and tears were clearly trying to fall from them. His whole body was shaking and Cyborg didn't know what to do. When Creator acted like that she usually had to get out of the room, but now, they weren't able to open the door from the inside, so she couldn't get out of there.

"No it isn't." She mumbled. Creator made life, he didn't take it away. Creator made her, Creator brought her to life, there was no way that Creator took away someone else's life.

"Yes it is." 2D said firmly. "He killed her."

"No he didn't."

"You don't know that!" He exclaimed, and Cyborg wished she had her gun there, it made her feel secure. But she left it outside the room, and while she did have guns on her body, she didn't feel as safe as she did while hiding behind her gun. "He killed her! He put her on the Windmill Island when he knew those guys were trying to destroy it! He killed Noodle and now he made a robot version of her, and he kidnapped me, and-!" He wasn't able to finish as his words got all tangled on his mouth as he tried to hold back a sob.

Still, he started crying so loud that Cyborg thought maybe something hurt him. But when she looked for any wound, she didn't find anything. So she didn't understand why he was crying so hard.

Still, her attention was easily taken away from 2D by the sound of steps getting close to the room they were in.


	2. Chapter 2

“What in the bloody hell is going on here?” Murdoc asked when he opened the door and found a crying 2D and a confused Cyborg Noodle. He asked as if he was completely clueless, as if he hasn’t ruined anyone’s life. “Why are you crying?” He said as he got closer to the crying man, his voice sounding anything but kind, more like, irritated.

“ ‘S just- Just-” 2D tried to answer, but Murdoc interrupted him when he grabbed one of 2D’s wrist and moved his hand out of his face violently.

“Come on, speak, I don’t have all day!” Murdoc insisted, and Cyborg watched horrified.

Why was Creator acting like that? She had never seen him so angry before, and it actually made her scared. She wanted to tell him to stop, but how could she go against Creator? She wasn’t allowed to do that, and she didn’t think it was right.

“Oh, you’re so annoying.” Murdoc sighed and covered his face with both of his hands, clearly irritated. “Guess old habits die hard.” Cyborg wondered how many times 2D cried before, because she hasn’t seen anyone cry before- Well, the only person she knew before 2D was Creator.

“W-Why- Why are you here?” 2D asked with his broken voice.

“I was going to take you out to record some vocals, but I guess I can’t do that anymore because you can’t sing when you’re crying, can you?” Murdoc said, moving his hand exaggerating his words and finishing by crossing his arms clearly pissed off.

“V-Vocals?”

“Yeah, vocals, genius! What? You forgot you’re a singer?” Creator said sarcastically.

Cyborg was wondering a lot of things, actually. Creator said she was there to replace Noodle, so, was she going to replace her in the band they had? Creator didn’t tell her that, she actually didn’t even know that Creator knew how to play any instrument until 2D told her that they were a band. Was she supposed to play an instrument too? She wasn’t sure if she knew how to play any instrument, she has never tried before, she just knows how to shoot a gun, that’s it, so why was Creator expecting her to play something?

“Let- Let me get this straight.” 2D spoke, cleaning up the tears on his face. “You come here to- To nowhere! To hide from the world, I guess, then you make a robotic version of Noodle hoping to replace her,” He continued, and pointed at Cyborg, who actually flinched. She really didn’t know what to think at the moment. “ and you kidnap me, JUST to make another Gorillaz album?” He asked, standing up and towering over Murdoc given the great difference in heights the two of them had.

“And replaced Russel with a drum machine, you forgot that.” Creator added casually. Russel was a new name for Cyborg, and she didn’t know if she could handle learning so much new stuff in so little time.

“That only makes it worse, Murdoc.”

“Really? I thought it made me look smart as hell.” Murdoc smiled, but when 2D just kept looking at him with a frown on his face he sighed and rolled his eyes. “So, are you going to keep crying like the crybaby you are or are you going to follow me and sing for the damn album?”

Now it was 2D’s turn to sigh.

“I’ll sing.” He accepted, still clearly unhappy with the situation he was in.

“Great.” Creator beamed, and then turned to see Cyborg, who immediately straightened her posture when she noticed that Creator was looking at her. “Cyborg, come with us.” He said.

“Yes.” She nodded with her head and followed the two men out of the room.

There she was again, somewhere she recognised on her home. To be honest, she liked it a lot more than the room 2D was staying in. It was bigger, and less dark. For someone else, it would be very weird to not know every single place in your house, but Cyborg didn’t think it was that weird, mainly because Murdoc made her think she was living a normal life even if she wasn’t.

When they got to their destiny, Cyborg was once more lost. She didn't know that room, and didn't understand anything that was there. But it seemed like 2D and Creator did understand very well since both of them took places immediately after entering the room. Cyborg stood behind Creator while she looked around. The room was full of posters with the title Gorillaz in them. She recognised Creator and 2D on the photos, while the other two were faces she has never seen before. Or, well, there was a face that she knew way too well, she just never had met the person before, but her face, she was too familiar with it. That was Noodle, she guessed. Funny enough, on the newer posters Noodle also had her eyes covered by her hair. It felt so weird, seeing the face of who she was supposed to replace. Noodle was smiling in almost every photo, while Cyborg didn’t remember a time when she smiled. She looked at the older posters then, and saw a younger Noodle, proving what 2D told her earlier. Noodle was just a little kid, and Cyborg Noodle was created that way, as a teenager. She was never a little kid and guessed she wouldn’t ever be an adult either.

She turned once again to look at the two adults. 2D was behind a thick glass, paper sheets on his hands as he said something that Cyborg wasn’t able to hear, but apparently, Creator was since he was wearing headphones.

“Yes, that’s the song, sing it.” He said, and 2D said something back. “Yes.” The blue haired man raised an eyebrow, to which Creator groaned in annoyance. “Yes! You have to sing it! If you don’t, I can easily throw you to the sea and let you drown here or get eaten by the whale.” 2D said something else, but Creator didn’t answer.

Cyborg got closer, wanting to hear, and Murdoc turned around to see her when he heard her steps.

“You want to hear?” He asked, and Cyborg nodded with her head. “Okay, but I’ll tell you, he isn’t really good the first couple takes.” He then added as he handed her another pair of headphones, and she put them on imitating the way Creator had them on. “Okay, ready?” Creator asked as he pressed a button.

“Yeah.” 2D mumbled as he looked through the paper sheets.

And music started to sound. Music Cyborg hasn’t heard before. Is nice, she liked it, but by 2D’s facial expression, he didn’t like it as much as she did. Or maybe he was just annoyed. By now she was aware of the fact that 2D didn’t really like Creator. 2D got near the microphone and Cyborg knew he was going to sing.

“On a melancholy hill there’s a plastic tree…” He sang, and Cyborg Noodle felt a chill down her spine, which was actually a new sensation for her. 2D’s singing voice was really pretty, she actually didn’t expect that, and, if Creator was right and the few first takes weren’t the best, then she was eager to hear the couple last ones, because she was sure that those were going to be amazing. She just didn’t expect that she would have to be there, listening to 2D sing the same song again and again for hours. She didn’t know exactly how much time they had been there, but it felt like a full year, and clearly she wasn’t the only one who felt that way since 2D was complaining nonstop about how tired he felt while Creator only told him to continue and stop crying like a baby. “I think you’re just trying to mess with me, Murdoc.” 2D said once he finished singing the song for what it felt like the millionth time that day. “We already have some good takes, c’mon, don’t be a dick.” He insisted, and Murdoc sighed, losing his patience.

“Okay, we can stop now!” He exclaimed, and both 2D and Cyborg Noodle flinched at that. “You can stop complaining now, get out of there and come here.” Murdoc took off his headphones and Cyborg did the same. 2D just sighed and walked towards the door to get out of the room, but when he was going to open it, Murdoc stopped him. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“... That tiny room you put me in?” 2D said, turning around to see Murdoc, who was standing a couple feet away with his arms crossed.

“No, stay here, I have to talk with you.”

“ ‘Bout what?”

Murdoc didn’t answer, instead, he looked to the side, where Cyborg Noodle was standing, and went up to her, grabbing her shoulders softly.

“Can you wait outside, hun? We’ll be out in a second.” He said, a tiny smile on his face, and Cyborg nodded.

“Yes.” She said, and walked out of the room.

She stayed there, anyways, close to the door, trying to hear what they were talking about. She never really did that, because obviously, Creator didn’t want her to hear whatever they were talking about, and she would usually obey, but now, after hearing what 2D told her, about killing Noodle, she actually felt the need to hear what they were talking about.

It was hard to hear them talking given how quiet their voices were at that moment, but suddenly, one of their voices sounded much more loud.

“You know damn well I didn’t do a thing!” Creator yelled. “In fact! If that’s the game you’re playing, I could easily say that you were the one who killed Noodle!”

“Why me?!” 2D yelled back, but his voice didn’t sound as imponent as Creator’s did.

“Because you didn’t save her!”

“That doesn’t make sense!” She then heard two loud sounds, both scared her, followed by silence.

"Stop being a pain in the ass and shut up for a damn second." 

When Cyborg heard steps coming to the door, she took a couple steps back and turned around, her back facing the door, hoping that whoever was about to open the door didn't know she was listening to their conversation.

"Take him to his room, luv." Creator said softly, passing by Cyborg Noodle, not looking at her for even a second.

She watched him disappear on the corner, and turned around back to the door. It was closed. She actually felt scared to open it because, why did she have to take 2D to his room? Why didn't he come out of there by himself? She took a couple seconds more to open the door, and when she finally did, she felt horrified. There was 2D, lying on the floor, eyes closed and almost completely immobile. He was at least breathing.

She got close to him and looked at his face, his temple was red, and she was sure that it would soon turn into a bruise on his face. Did Creator hit him? Why? Creator wasn't aggressive, was he? She was so confused, but what she supposed that happened, Creator hit him on the temple, 2D fell to the floor, and he hit his head a second time, that's why he was now unconscious. But, how hard did Creator hit him to be able to throw him to the floor and knock him out? And why?

She decided to stop getting lost on her thoughts and lifted 2D. He was surprisingly light, so it was very easy for her to take him to his room and lay him on his bed.

She felt so scared now. She was learning so much about Creator, and it was all stuff she didn't like. So, she was now wondering, was it true that Creator killed Noodle?


	3. Chapter 3

When 2D woke up, he wasn't expecting to be in the room where Murdoc left him. He actually forgot he was there, so it wasn't a nice surprise to find himself in that room underwater. He looked around, he was alone, in complete silence. His heart hurt like hell and he was sure he didn't have his pills with him. He got up to verify, because, maybe, Murdoc decided to have a little compassion and give him some painkillers even if those weren't the ones he usually had with him. But he didn't find anything. He sighed and sat back on his bed, holding his head with his hands.

It hurt so bad. He actually wanted to cry. Murdoc did it again, once again was hitting him as if he didn't feel a thing. But he did, and 2D hated him for that.

He spent some more time like that, sitting there, his head hurting more and more by every second. Until the door opened, and he raised his gaze to see who was there, hoping to see Murdoc so he could ask him for painkillers, so maybe Murdoc Murdoc would show a little of humanity and help him. But it was Cyborg, standing there.

"You're awake." She said, he nodded. The Cyborg got close to the singer and looked at his face carefully. He, as she expected, had a bruise on his temple. She touched him there with a finger, and he flinched at the pain. "How do you feel?"

"My- Uh… My head hurts." He replied, and she stayed there, quiet, for a couple seconds. Then, without saying anything, she got out of the room, leaving 2D all by himself again.

Was he surprised? A little bit. Cyborg was weird, for him. The cyborg girl looked exactly like his little sister, but acted nothing like her. Noodle was always happy to see him, she always jumped to hug him and ask him to play with her. They used to dance together, and it was the most fun time of the day. She usually mixed english and japanese, and even if he didn’t understand everything she said, it was something characteristic for her and he loved it. On the other hand, Cyborg Noodle was completely clueless, and, at least on the exterior, completely emotionless too. Her sentences were short, her voice monotone, and she clearly thought of Murdoc as some kind of God. It was actually really hard for him to look at someone who looked exactly like his dead sister but acted nothing like her.

Noodle was so special, and Murdoc wanted to replace her like some kind of material object, as if she wasn’t the reason why they stayed together the first time. As if she wasn’t the reason why the three of them, Russel, Murdoc and 2D, tried to be better persons.

Before 2D could realise it, Cyborg was back in the room, standing in front of him, who, when he noticed the presence of the metalic girl, raised his gaze.

“Here.” She said, handing him a bottle of pills. 2D recognised it, those weren’t his normal pills, those were just common painkillers, but at least that was something. “Is that enough?”

“Yeah,” He mumbled, that was a lie, but he didn’t want to make Cyborg feel bad, even if he didn’t know if she had any emotions. “thank you.”

She nodded with her head. And the silence filled the room. 2D actually felt uncomfortable, because none of them was saying anything and while 2D was sitting on his bed, Cyborg was standing in front of him, completely still, she clearly wasn’t even breathing, in fact, 2D wasn’t even sure if she was awake. Was she even able to sleep? He wasn’t sure. He wasn’t sure about a lot of things about her.

When she moved he actually gave a little jump because of the surprise that sudden movement gave him. She sat on the bed next to him, and looked at 2D through her bangs. He looked back at Cyborg a little uncomfortable.

“Uh… Why- Why are you-”

“Can you tell me about your band?” She asked, taking 2D by surprise once again.

“Uhm, sure…” He said back, sitting straight up in front of her, crossing his legs and resting his elbows on top of his knees. “What do you wanna know about?”

“Everything.”

He chuckled.

“Oh, boy… Where do I start?” He mumbled to himself. “Well, Murdoc and I met back in 1998, when I was working in Uncle Norm’s music emporium.” 

None of them was aware for how long they stayed there, but 2D was able to tell Cyborg Noodle a lot of stories, some fun ones, some pretty curious. But something that Cyborg noticed, 2D was avoiding to talk too much about Creator. She was guessing that Creator, or Murdoc, wasn’t as good as she thought. She guessed that before, just didn’t want to believe it. Just opening the door and finding 2D lying there, unconscious, broke a big part of the idea of an almost literal God that she had of her creator, who just was called Murdoc Niccals and she just now learnt he hit an eighteen year old on the head with his car.

Now, after 2D finished telling Cyborg another story, they stayed in silence once again. 2D was sighing a lot given his headache, but Cyborg didn’t seem to be aware of that. She was too lost on her own thoughts to notice that 2D wasn’t feeling too well. She suddenly raised her head, making 2D flinch at the sudden movement. She noticed he did that a lot, and wondered if that had something to do with Murdoc.

“I’m not Noodle.” She said suddenly, and 2D looked at her confused.

“Uh, n-no, you aren’t.” He said back.

“But I’m supposed to be.” As she spoke, she took her hat off and held it between her hands, almost like containing herself from doing something. 2D was actually impressed at that since he expected a cyborg to not show any emotion at all, and she was doing that until that second when she started gripping thigh on her hat.

“No, you’re not.”

“Then why is my name Cyborg Noodle?” She asked, looking at him. She wished her voice was able to show her emotions, she wished to be able to let 2D know how she was feeling, but she wasn’t able and that actually made her frustrated. Her bangs moved a little with her head, it was the first time 2D had the opportunity to see her eyes and he felt so impressed by how human they looked. She had the same eyes as Noodle, but, was he surprised by that? Not anymore. However, he did feel very surprised by how real her eyes looked.

“W-Well- I- You-” 2D tried to say, but he didn’t really know where he wanted to go with that. So he sighed and tried to think his words better. “Murdoc wants you to be Noodle,” She nodded with her head. “ but you’re not-”

“I’m not.” She added.

“No you’re not, but I- Uhm- I don’t think that’s something bad.” He said.

Cyborg stayed completely still. She was surprised by that. She really wasn’t expecting that answer.

“You don’t?”

“I don’t.” He said, nodding with his head.

Cyborg stayed quiet for a couple seconds. Actually, she was talking a lot more since 2D arrived to Plastic Beach, and she really enjoyed having someone to talk with. And she really liked hearing him talk. He was great telling stories. Well- Actually, she didn’t know that, he was the first one who ever told her any story, but she thought it was really fun how he sometimes started to talk about other stuff and then, after a couple minutes of that, he remembered what he was talking about at the start and returned to the main topic. She really liked his stutter too, it was fun. She had never heard someone stutter before that, so now that she heard 2D talk, and stutter so much, she thought it was nice, maybe that was just because he was the first one she ever heard stutter before, but still.

“Why did your creators call you 2D?” She asked after a couple seconds of silence.

“Wha’?” He asked back, a tiny smile forming on his face. “Why did they call me 2D, you say?”

She nodded with her head. “That’s a weird name.”

He giggled, and she felt so confused. What was so funny of her question?

“My name isn’t 2D.” He said, still smiling.

“... Then why does Creator call you 2D?”

“That’s a nickname.” He explained. “My name is Stuart.”

Cyborg took some time to understand.

“Stuart?” She asked quietly, and that was actually the first time her voice had some type of variation.

“Yeh.” He giggled again. “You like it?” He now asked.

“Yes.” Cyborg nodded with her head. “Why does Creator call you 2D?”

“Remember when I told you about my eyes?” She nodded again. “I have two- Two dents on my head, get it? Two Dents.” He smiled widely, expecting a reaction. However, Cyborg never had any physical reactions, but she did think it was smart.

“Did Creator give you that nickname?” She asked, and now it was 2D’s turn to nod. “Do you like it?”

“It’s okay.” He shrugged. “Everyone calls me 2D anyway.”

“Can I call you 2D?”

“B-But- You already call me that.” He chuckled. His head was still hurting, but he was trying to ignore it because talking to Cyborg was showing to be really fun, she was interesting, and he liked explaining her things, like, breaking the reality that Murdoc created inside her head.

“I do. Yes.”

2D giggled a little more, and Cyborg wanted to laugh too. But she was a cyborgs and cyborgs didn’t laugh. So she just sat there, looking at 2D as he laughed.

“Cyborg?” They heard Murdoc’s voice, and all that giggling got to an end. “Where are you?”

“I have to go.” Cyborg said as she got up from the bed, and walked towards the door.

“I- Uhm- Yeah.” Was all that 2D was able to spit out.

Cyborg didn’t look back at him before she got out of the room and went to look for Creator. She wasn’t supposed to be on 2D’s room, so she hoped Creator didn’t know she was there, because she was having fun talking with 2D- Or Stuart. She didn’t really know how to call him anymore, she liked both 2D and Stuart.

“There you are!” Creator said, and Cyborg turned around to face him. “Where were you?” He asked as he put his arm around her shoulders and dragged her with him.

“I was in-”

“Y’know what? Doesn’t matter, we’re busy right now, luv.” He interrupted, as they got to the same room as before, were Creator knocked 2D out with a hit on his temple. “You are going to play guitar for me, yeah?”

She looked at him for a couple seconds, he was smiling as he waited for Cyborg to grab the guitar and play, just as Noodle did.

“What’s wrong?” He asked when Cyborg didn’t do what he expected.

“I don’t know how to play guitar.” She explained, and he let out a loud laugh.

“Of course you know, luv!” Murdoc said, still laughing.

“But I never-”

“You were made off of Noodle’s DNA, of course you play guitar.” 

Cyborg wanted to frown, but she wasn't able to, so she just stood there, looking at Murdoc silently, who just sighed after a couple seconds of silence.

"Here." He said as he turned around and grabbed a guitar, to then hand it to Cyborg who took the instrument doubtfully.

"But I-"

"You can do it, luv."

She didn't really want to do it, but she did it anyways since Creator was insisting. She played well, which obviously surprised her because she had never even touched an instrument before, but Creator wasn't surprised in the slightless, he knew Cyborg was able to do that, he created her to do that.

That was her purpose.


	4. Chapter 4

"You did great." Creator said once Cyborg finished recording the guitar after some time there. She was surprised by how easy it was for her to play and to understand what was on the music sheets, but she guessed she shouldn't be surprised, she was created with Noodle's DNA, and was made to replace Noodle. "See? I told you you're great with the guitar. Just like Noodle was." There it was again, she was supposed to be just like Noodle was.

But she wasn't really like Noodle, was she? She really didn't think so. She looked at the posters again. Noodle was a real person, a human, while Cyborg Noodle was just that. She could never be able to replace Noodle, which was almost her only purpose. The other purpose she was given was to protect Creator at all cost. But now she didn't know if she could do that because now she knew that Murdoc ruined 2D's life and took away Noodle's, so, did he really deserve to be protected like that? She wasn't sure anymore. If you asked her some time ago, she would have said yes without a doubt, but now that she had the opportunity to talk to someone who knew Murdoc way better than she did, she would probably doubt a little before giving an answer, and even now she wasn't sure what that answer would be.

"Yes." She simply said. And stayed there. Murdoc started walking around the room, like looking for something, but when he noticed that Cyborg was still there, he sighed and walked up to her.

"You can go now." He said, pointing to the door, but Cyborg didn't move. "What's wrong? Are you running low on battery or something?"

"May I ask something, Creator?" She asked, and Murdoc raised an eyebrow. Cyborg never asked anything, she just mostly said Yes and that was all, so that was new, at least for Murdoc, because 2D had already heard her say much more.

"Okay…" Murdoc said, crossing his arms, his eyebrow still raised. "Go on."

"How did Noodle die?"

Murdoc's facial expression changed twice in less than one second. First it was puzzled, with that one eyebrow raised, then both of his eyebrows went up and his mouth formed a tiny O shape, and finally he frowned, clearly angry.

"Why do you ask that?" He spoke firmly, his voice sounding much more low than how it normally sounded.

She didn't know how to explain herself. She just kind of needed to know that Murdoc didn't kill Noodle, because she still didn't want to believe what 2D said.

"Curiosity." She simply said.

Murdoc stayed quiet a couple seconds, before sighing frustrated and covering his face with both hands.

"You've been talking with that boy, haven't you?" He said, but Cyborg Noodle didn't say anything, to which Murdoc groaned, and got out of the room, stomping by every step. "That piece of shit…"

Cyborg suddenly felt terrified, she wondered what was Murdoc going to do. So she followed him, silently, and when he got closer to 2D's room, she felt the need to do something, but she was actually scared, since, if it was true, if Murdoc did kill Noodle, then, was he able to kill Cyborg Noodle too? She knew that there was a possibility where Murdoc would harm 2D really bad, and she wanted to do something, she felt determined to do something, but her body didn’t move like she wanted it to do, which was weird, she didn’t have any muscles, any bones, nothing, just pure metal, and she was still completely paralized when Murdoc opened 2D’s door.

“You’re lucky you’re pretty, because if you weren’t I would have killed you years ago, pretty boy!” Murdoc yelled as soon as he got inside the room, before 2D even had the opportunity to say anything.

“Hey! L-Leave me alone!” 2D said as he tried to get out of 2D’s hold, as he was now holding him by the collar of his shirt.

Murdoc didn’t say anything, he just sighed in annoyance, and kicked 2D right on the stomach, making him hold back a loud groan of pain. Murdoc then pushed 2D to the floor and that's when Cyborg finally was able to move, and put herself between the two men, looking up to Murdoc, challengingly.

"Cyborg, move." Murdoc said, trying to push the robotic girl out of the way, but she didn't move an inch, instead, she opened her mouth letting the gun inside there be seen. "What? You're protecting him now?" The green man asked, clearly afraid of what Cyborg was able to do but trying to act uninterested and unafraid. She didn't answer, neither did she move. She just stayed there, in front of 2D who was laying on the floor with his hands on his belly as he looked up at the scene in front of him with amazement.

Murdoc's eyes went from Cyborg to 2D, and from 2D to Cyborg a couple times before he groaned, defeated.

"Don't you think you're safe now." He said directly to 2D before he left the room and closed the door with a loud bang.

Cyborg finally closed her mouth hiding her gun and turned to see 2D, kneeling beside him and looking for any wound. She of course saw Murdoc kicking him on the stomach, so she was for sure going to check there, bit 2D's hands were on the way.

"Why-Why did you do that?" He asked, not moving from his position, so Cyborg had to take his hands and move them from the way.

"Creator hurt you." She simply said, leaning a bit forward as she lifted 2D's shirt a bit, to reveal his stomach, which was red and a bruise was clearly forming there.

"Y-Yeah- I mean- We've known each other for like- Like a day." He said.

Cyborg took some time to answer, she was too focused on the bruise to pay full attention to what 2D was saying.

"Can you sit down?" She asked, ignoring what 2D was saying. He nodded and tried to sit, it took him a couple tries, but he managed to do it. Cyborg lifted 2D’s shirt once again, and pressed a finger against his stomach just looking for a reaction, and she got it when he let out a cry out of pain and moved her hand away with his own. “It hurts?”

“Yeah.” 2D nodded, still smiling a little bit, since she asked something that was pretty obvious after his reaction.

“How bad?” Cyborg asked, still looking at his stomach, as if she didn’t see enough already. She was just curious to see how a bruise was formed, since she never got bruises because she didn’t have a skin like 2D did.

“In scale from one to ten? Hm… Seven.” 2D answered, and Cyborg raised her gaze at that.

“You could have a broken rib.”

“Really?” She nodded. “Are-Are you sure? Isn’t that a bit- Uhm- Exaggerated?” Now she shook her head no.

“He kicked you.”

“He’s done that plenty of times before.” Cyborg frowned at that. She didn’t want to believe it, but at that point it was really hard to deny it, judging from Murdoc’s reaction after she asked him about Noodle, which makes her believe that 2D doesn’t lie. She didn’t like the new idea she had of her creator, but that was the one that seemed to be true. And honestly, she felt scared, but she wasn’t able to show it.

So Cyborg stayed with 2D the next days, even if she knew that if Murdoc saw her there he would get mad, she didn’t care, she knew she was able to defend herself if Murdoc pretended to hurt her, and she was also able to protect 2D if Murdoc was going to hurt him, which was more likely to happen than the other option anyway. She really enjoyed spending time with 2D, he was fun, and had a lot of stories. She often would ask him about Noodle, and 2D would just tell happy stories, smiling as he spoke, sometimes he cried, but Cyborg didn’t know how to comfort people when they were crying, so she just stayed quiet until he stopped crying, which usually took some time, but she was patient.

“Can I- Uhm, can I hug you?” 2D asked one time, as he cried again after telling Cyborg the story of how Noodle arrived at Kong Studios (the place that she now knew used to be their home).

“Yes.” She simply said, extending her arms and letting 2D hug her, as tight as he wanted. They stayed like that for a while, just hugging each other, 2D crying on Cyborg’s shoulder, until she spoke up again. “Is this helping?” She asked.

“Y-Yeah.” He nodded. “A lot, actually.” He then added as he chuckled.

“Can I do this everytime you cry?” She asked, because maybe she finally found a way to comfort 2D when he was crying.

“Yes, please.” He nodded again as his hold on her became tighter, but she didn’t care, so she just let him hug her until he stopped crying, which actually happened when he fell asleep.

She stayed there a couple minutes more, anyway, just hugging him and listening to his breathing, watching his back raise for every time he breathed in. It was peaceful like that, but if 2D wasn’t awake she preferred to not be there. She was putting both of them in danger by being there when he was awake, and now that he was asleep, she wasn’t going to stay there to just continue putting them in danger, so she got up careful to not wake 2D up, and left the room silently. She looked around when she was out of that room, it was incredible how small 2D’s room was, especially compared to the rest of the building.

Cyborg decided to go upstairs, since there was nothing to do where she was. But when she was walking up the stairs, she heard something. It took her a minute to realise it was 2D’s voice, but it wasn’t coming from his room. It would have easily been one of the songs they have been recording, but it wasn’t, that song wasn’t familiar for her. Was it really 2D’s voice? Maybe she was just confused, but as she heard the lyrics “Caught up in the conflict between his brain and his tail” she was completely sure that was 2D’s voice. She followed the music, and ended up on the last floor of the building, where Murdoc’s room was. She was a little scared to be there, to be honest, but she also felt curious, she wanted to learn about 2D and Murdoc’s band, she was in it too now, so she thought it was fair for her to know. The door of the room was unlocked, so she opened it cautiously, and there it was, a big screen showing four people, the same four people she saw on the posters, and the same four people 2D told her stories about. There was Murdoc, driving the car, beside him was 2D, singing, and on the back was who she now knew was Russel, and there she was, Noodle, smiling widely as she sang the lyrics of the song, just having fun.

If it felt weird before just looking at a photo of Noodle, now it felt even weirder to watch her in a video. She was just a happy kid around three adults. She knew she looked exactly like Noodle, she was supposed to, but it still surprised her how similar they were, how they looked exactly the same, even if the video showed a younger Noodle.

She felt sad. Noodle was a happy kid, and now she was dead, most likely because of one of the adults who raised her, as 2D said, and even worse, she was being replaced by a cyborg version of herself, who wasn’t even half as happy as Noodle seemed to be. If all the stories that 2D told her were true, Noodle was the most cool and fun girl in the world, while Cyborg Noodle didn’t even know the world outside of Plastic Beach. If she wasn’t just a robotic girl, she would have been crying at that point.

Cyborg spotted Murdoc in the room, looking intently to the screen in front of him as the song ended. Cyborg didn’t see his face, so she didn’t know what his reaction was to that video. She didn’t care anyway, she was too glued on the screen too. She stayed there a little longer, just watching videos, standing behind the door. It was when a certain video came in that she didn’t want to look anymore.

“Summer don’t know me no more, eager man, that’s all.” Sounded 2D’s voice.

The reason she didn’t want to look anymore was that Noodle looked exactly like her. Even the bangs covering the eyes, everything. She looked exactly like Noodle did. Cyborg didn’t stop looking, tough, it felt impossible to look away.

It was when the helicopters started to shoot down the island when she couldn’t keep herself together, and as Noodle ran for her life, she couldn’t hold back a loud gasp. That made Murdoc turn around, finding Cyborg standing behind the door and looking at the screen. Usually Cyborg’s face didn’t show any emotion, but now he could swear he saw the horror on her face even when half of it was covered by her hair.

He stood up, and Cyborg felt the need to run, but she was frozen in her place, and if she wasn’t made of metal, she would have been shaking as Murdoc got closer and closer to her. She wanted to do something, but all she could do was look at Murdoc, who was now standing in front of her, and before anything else happened, Cyborg’s vision went black, and soon her other senses did the same.


	5. Chapter 5

When Cyborg woke up, she was in the same room where they recorded the songs for the album, and, actually, she wasn’t alone, there were Murdoc and 2D too. Just like last time, 2D was singing while Murdoc was standing at the other side of the glass, headphones on, looking at 2D silently as he sang. She felt terrible as she noticed the black eye he had, and felt even worse as she noticed all the other bruises on his arms. She wasn’t awake when 2D got all of those bruises, but she wished she was, that way she could have prevented it, but Murdoc turned her off when he saw her outside his room. Cyborg looked around, cables plugged on her arms. She was charging, she wasn’t able to move away when she was charging, so she just looked at 2D sing, with a sad and tired expression on his face as Murdoc told him to sing again and do it better. This time it didn’t take him as long as last time, or maybe Cyborg didn’t feel it that way because she was turned off for most of the time. But when they finished, Murdoc turned around as he took the headphones off and noticed that Cyborg was looking at him in silence.

"You're awake." He said, as he stepped closer to her and unplugged all the cables off of her. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"You were busy, Creator." She answered, confused as why was Murdoc treating her just as always. She guessed he would be furious at her, but he didn't seem like it. Maybe he took off his anger with 2D and that was why he suddenly had all those bruises he didn't have before.

"Good point there, luv." Murdoc said, smiling and stepping back, looking at Cyborg.

But Cyborg wasn't looking at Murdoc anymore, she was actually looking at 2D, whose gaze was on the floor, his head down and his hands playing with the hem of his shirt. He looked so… Broken, in a way. Cyborg had never seen him like that, but she did only know him for like a week or so. It was hard to tell the time when they spent most of the time in a room underwater, even more when the guy she was spending time with had his sleeping schedule all over the place. But the point was, something happened, something that Cyborg was sure she wouldn't like once she was informed about what exactly that was.

"Good thing you're awake, hun, because it's your turn to record." Murdoc spoke, and at that both 2D and Cyborg looked at him. "Now grab the guitar and go there." He added, to then turn to see 2D. "You stay here where I see you." The blue haired man nodded and stood next to Murdoc, his hands together he looked at Cyborg, who after a seconds of silence took the guitar and got behind the glass. It was expected for Murdoc to put on the headphones, but when 2D did it too, it was a surprise, but Cyborg supposed that, since she heard him sing it was only fair for him to hear her play the guitar.

She looked through the paper sheets Murdoc gave her before starting to play. She rarely looked up from the strings of the guitar, but when she did, she found both 2D and Murdoc looking at her silently, both with some level of pain on their faces. 2D’s pain was more obvious, though, as he wasn't trying to hide it, but Murdoc’s facial expression was the weirdest thing Cyborg had ever seen. It was a weird mix of emotions she had never seen before and she didn’t know where to begin to explain what was happening on Murdoc’s face. At first glance, he looked mad, but then, for every time she looked up to him, she saw something different adding another emotion to everything his face had already going on. When she finished, she expected Murdoc to tell her to play it again, and again, again, a couple more times, but when he took off the headphones, both 2D and Cyborg looked surprised by that.

“We’re done here.” Murdoc said as he pressed a button. “That was perfect.”

2D looked at him in obvious surprise, but didn’t say anything. No one said anything, actually. When Cyborg got closer to them, she noticed 2D was crying, and she wanted to hug him, but Murdoc was there right in front of them and she didn’t want him seeing them hugging. The poor 2D already suffered because of her and she really wanted to avoid any more problems. So she didn’t hug him even if she felt like she needed to.

“Take him to his room, okay?” Murdoc said, a hand on Cyborg’s shoulder. She noticed how the anger disappeared from his face, taking one emotion away from his facial expression.

“Yes.” She nodded, and grabbed 2D’s arm to drag him with her. He just followed in silence, tears still going down his face.

The silence became uncomfortable once they were in 2D's room, he was sitting on the bed while Cyborg was in front of him. Cyborg was trying to speak, on the other hand, 2D didn’t really want to talk, but if the robotic girl was there he supposed it was to talk.

“Why are you crying?” She finally said, sitting on the bed next to 2D as she started doing some days ago.

“I- Uhm- ‘S just that- Y-You…” He didn’t seem able to finish his sentence.

“Me?” She asked, worried.

“I-I mean! Y-You didn’t do anything wrong, ‘s just that…” He sighed as he guessed he now needed to say why he was crying. “Y-You really were made with Noodle’s DNA.” He said. “Y-You really are like her, in a weird way.” 2D now looked up at Cyborg and brushed her hair to the side, uncovering her eyes, her weirdly human eyes. She didn’t do anything but look at him in silence. “ ‘S s-so weird to think there’s like- A- A part of Noodle, in you.” He spoke, now sounding kind of… Gone, lost on his own mind. He was thinking out loud.

“But I’m not Noodle.” She said. She wasn’t Noodle, and she didn’t want to be even when she knew she was supposed to be.

“No, you are not.” He agreed.

“Do you want me to be Noodle?” She asked, wishing the answer wasn’t what she thought he was going to say.

“I- It’s hard.” He said, covering his face with his hands, letting go of Cyborg’s bangs, making her eyes be covered once again. “I know you- You are not Noodle, a-and you aren’t going to be, ever. I just- I wish she was here, you’re the closest thing I have to her a-and it’s hard to look at you when you look exactly like her, but aren’t her.”

Cyborg didn’t know what to say, so she just extended her arms. She hoped 2D would see her, but he didn’t, as he was still covering his face.

“Do you want me to hug you?” She asked, and 2D moved his hands away from his face to look at her.

He shook his head, which surprised her.

“ ‘M good now.” He said, cleaning the tears from his face. “Thank you, though.”

Of course, Cyborg believed him, because according to her, 2D didn’t lie. But he was lying, he just didn’t want to grow more attached to Cyborg because he felt like if he did, he would convince himself she was Noodle when she clearly wasn’t. He felt so confused, and also he felt angry, but he wasn’t to get that out on her, not when Cyborg was completely innocent. But still, he felt incredibly angry, he felt the need to scream. He couldn’t believe he wasn’t prepared for anything after meeting Murdoc, how he didn’t expect to be kidnapped even after Murdoc almost killed him three times. He was also angry at Murdoc, for not being able to accept the fact that he really didn’t want to go back to make music for Gorillaz, for not being able to move on, for making a robotic version of Noodle trying to replace her, as if she didn’t die because of him. He was also angry at Cyborg Noodle, for looking so similar to Noodle but not being her. Still, he couldn’t blame her, because, again, she was completely innocent, and clueless, and didn’t deserve anything of what both he and Murdoc were putting her through. Murdoc made her to replace someone who she clearly wasn’t, and lied to her, creating a whole new reality inside her head, and now there was 2D, telling her how everything she believed to be true, wasn’t, how everything Murdoc told her was a complete lie. They were messing with her head, and as if it wasn’t enough, 2D felt like there was no soon end to that.

“Why did Murdoc beat you?” Cyborg asked. 2D couldn’t hide the fact that he was surprised by how she used Murdoc’s name instead of how he made her call him. But she didn’t say anything about the clear surprise on his face, so he guessed she cared more about the answer she wanted than how she called Murdoc.

He shrugged. “I dunno. Guess he was just taking his anger out or somethin’.” He now looked away, examining the bruises on his arms.

“He didn’t say anything?”

He shook his head no. “Why would he?” Cyborg didn’t answer as she didn’t know how to. They both just looked at 2D’s bruises in silence, until he chuckled softly. 

“What?” She asked, wanting to know what was so funny, even if she wasn’t sure if she even had a sense of humor.

"I must look pretty ugly with my face like this." He said, and Cyborg didn't understand. He looked practically the same, just with bruises here and there. "Murdoc wanted me to- To be the frontman of the band because he thought I was, uhm, pretty." Explained, and Cyborg nodded, showing that she understood. "I bet he doesn't want me to show my face when it's lookin' like this."

"Do you want to show your face like that?" She asked, and 2D shrugged.

"I don't think anyone's going to see me, anyway." He said, and Cyborg nodded again. The possibilities of them leaving Plastic Beach were pretty low.

"Do you want something to cover your face?" She continued to ask, now looking for something to make 2D feel better, since he didn't want to hug her.

"I mean, yeh, that would be nice." He nodded, chuckling once again.

He actually had a whole thing with his looks. He knew he was a pretty boy, he was supposed to be, but there were times where he wouldn't feel as pretty as he should be, and since that was like his thing, to be the pretty boy, feeling 'not pretty enough' made him also feel completely useless. The only reason why Murdoc wanted him to be a part of the band was because he was attractive. Yeah, he did sing too, but, how many people in the world could sing? Tons! So, that was one of those times where his face didn't look as it usually did and he didn't want anyone to look at him, but he guessed no one would see him at that moment, apart from Cyborg and Murdoc, but both of them should be used to see him beaten up anyway.

"I'm going to find something for you, then." Cyborg said after what felt like an eternity (but were actually just a couple seconds).

2D smiled. He didn't expect her to do so, and he didn't need it. But he still smiled, and muttered a quiet thank you to which Cyborg just nodded with her head.

"You are really good with the guitar, by the way." 2D said after a short silence. 

Cyborg looked at him through her thick bangs before replying, hoping that statement didn't have anything to do with her not being Noodle. At that point, she really wanted to separate herself from Noodle, now that she knew it was impossible for her to be that happy little kid Noodle used to be before dying.

"Thank you." She muttered, and that was the first time 2D ever heard even the slightest variation on her voice.


	6. Chapter 6

Now that 2D was asleep, Cyborg got out of the room, closing the door behind her silently. She decided she wasn't going to look for Murdoc, since last time she found him it didn't end as she expected. To be honest, once Murdoc saw her behind the door, she was sure he was going to destroy her, take the life away from her just like he surely did with Noodle. So she was surprised when all he did was turn her off and put her to charge.

Still, she tried to ignore it. Murdoc was unpredictable, after all. She learned that when 2D got there with them.

Speaking about 2D, she was going to look for what she promised. She knew she saw something that could work, so she went to the storage room, where they kept everything they didn't need at the moment, like instruments, or guns, stuff like that. Cyborg hadn't been there before, but it wasn't like she wasn't allowed there, because she was, she just never got the chance to get there, until now. So she opened the door and turned the lights on, looking around. There were other posters of the band hung on the walls, some of them she had never seen before. It didn't surprise her, though, by now she was aware that Murdoc kept a lot of things from the band they were in. Still, she looked at the posters a little, just looking at the faces in the photos. The four faces she has come so familiar with even if she just knew two of the people there. It was weird, because on the photos 2D always looked so confident, strong, and so… Cool, like someone you wouldn't want to mess with, but when they were together he would speak so quietly, and stuttering, he would also be so shy sometimes and when Murdoc was around he always looked down, so nervous, as if he was in constant danger, which could actually be true. It was weird how different both 2D and Murdoc looked in the photos from what she had seen while being with them. And the four of them looked exactly as 2D described them together, as a weird family. They were for sure a weird group, and she wished she would have had the opportunity to meet the four of them. Who knew, maybe sometime if they ever figure out where Russel is she could at least get to know him. She thought she would be just fine without meeting Noodle.

Once she was done looking at the pictures, she decided to start looking for something that could help 2D with the issue with his face. She was there a couple minutes, finding a lot of stuff that she didn’t need at the moment, a lot of guns, actually, guns neither she or Murdoc used anymore. They weren't that old, they just didn't leave Plastic Beach. Well- She'd never left the island, but Murdoc had, and he would usually take guns with him. He used to say he needed to protect himself, but now, thinking about what she recently learned about Murdoc, she didn’t believe it as much as she used to do. Who knows, maybe he was out killing some people while Cyborg stayed home, believing her creator was the most kind and amazing human alive. She didn’t believe that anymore, though, not now that she met 2D.

Although, even if she now thought of 2D like the greatest human on Earth, he was for sure putting her head on a roller coaster at the moment, making her see how much Murdoc actually lied. She really thought Murdoc was a good person, but now, even if she was sure that her creator was a killer, she still found some good in him, or at least, something to hold onto, emotionally. Noodle. She remembered when she caught him watching old videos, from when Noodle was alive, and looking at her with such a weird expression every time it was her turn to record. She knew that was because of Noodle. She was sure that her creator would never love her the same way he loved Noodle, even if she was made to replace her. Damn, she sometimes thought that maybe 2D didn’t love her enough, because he would always love Noodle way more. He described her as his sister, and they’ve known each other for like a week or so. So why was she so attached to him? Why did she feel like she needed him, as if they had known each other for a lifetime, when it clearly wasn’t like that? Why did she even have emotions? Shouldn’t it be the complete opposite?

She was getting too lost on her thoughts, she wasn’t even paying attention to her search anymore. She would usually be paying the highest attention if she was alone, but at that moment she was surprised when the door opened behind her. She turned around to see Murdoc, who was looking at her looking as surprised to find her there as she was to see him at the door.

“What are you doing here?” He asked softly as he approached her.

She felt nervous. She didn’t know what to tell him.

“I’m looking for bullets, Creator.” She lied, hoping it sounded truthful. She guesses it did, tough, since her voice never had any variation.

Murdoc’s nod made her clear that he did believe her. She felt relieved at that, since it wasn’t that hard to come up with a reason as to why she was looking for bullets.

“I’m guessing you wanna know why I’m here too, aren’t you, dear?” He spoke, as he started to look around just like Cyborg was doing before he got there.

“Yes.” She replied simply.

“Knew that.” He laughed, she didn’t get what was funny. “You see, Cyborg…” He sighed, his smile was wide, which just made Cyborg feel pretty scared of what he was going to say. “We’ve got things to do.” He said, crossing his arms, waiting for a reaction. Of course Cyborg was surprised.

“We?” She asked, and she could swear she saw Murdoc’s smile widen even more, which she thought was impossible, but apparently, she was wrong.

“Yeah! And not only you and me, dear.” He nodded his head, as he continued with his search for guns, not only for him this time.

“Who else is coming, Creator?” She asked, now actually feeling scared. She had never before left Plastic Beach, and with what she was thinking before, about Murdoc just going out to do terrible things, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to go. But she couldn’t say no to her creator, that wasn’t allowed.

“2D! Who else if not him?” Murdoc replied, laughing between his teeth as he found one of the guns he was looking for in one of the many boxes in that room. “Can’t leave the guy alone here, he would surely kill himself, overdosing on painkillers or something…” He continued rambling before that, but Cyborg stopped paying attention at that point. Overdose on painkillers, he said? Why? She didn’t believe him, she now knew that Murdoc lied a lot, but, why would he say that? Did he want Cyborg to believe that 2D would harm himself? But why? “Oh, hey!” Murdoc suddenly exclaimed, taking Cyborg out of her thoughts to look at him. “I found bullets for you, hun.” He said as he turned around and handed her the bullets. They were in a plastic box, which was labeled as 2D’s shit, she guessed it used to be '2D’s shit', but now that box had bullets.

She sighed. She now had to get back there later to find what she was really looking for.

“Thanks, Creator.” She said, and Murdoc nodded at that.

“You’re welcome, Noodle.” He said, ruffling Cyborg’s hair a little.

But she felt herself frozen in her place as she heard him call her that. He called her Noodle. He really wanted her to be Noodle. She really was supposed to be Noodle. But why, if she wasn’t Noodle? 2D told her she would never be Noodle, but then Murdoc goes and calls her Noodle, as if she was her. And it was all complicated. 2D didn’t want her to be Noodle, while Murdoc created her to be Noodle.

But Murdoc killed Noodle, why did he want to act as if Noodle was still alive? Why did he want her to be there so bad, to the point of building a robotic version of her? Why did he even kill her in the first place?

“What’s wrong, luv?” Murdoc asked when he noticed that Cyborg was still standing there.

“Noodle’s dead.” She said, and that, apparently, made Murdoc realise he called her that. There was again that mix of emotions on his face, the one she saw when she was playing the guitar. That actually made her scared, because she wasn’t able to understand even one of the emotions on his face.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, that’s right, erhm…” He cleared his throat, and turned back around, his back now facing Cyborg. “ ‘M sorry, luv, you just look a lot like her.”

“You wanted me to look like her, Creator.” She replied, trying to get something from that conversation, trying to understand at least one of all the things that were happening since 2D got to Plastic Beach.

“Yeah, I did.” He nodded.

“Why?”

She was expecting an answer, a real one, with a good explanation and everything, she was sure she wasn’t going to move until she got the answer she was looking for. But Murdoc stayed still too, not moving an inch, before sighing and turning around to see Cyborg Noodle to the face, that weird and confusing expression on his face once again.

"I miss her." That was all he said before he walked up to Cyborg, who felt terrified at that, but wasn't surprised when Murdoc raised his hand to her and turned her off, just like the time she found him looking at old videos with Noodle in them.

Murdoc always turned her off when she found out something about him. Mostly, that he had weird emotions. He was really hard to understand. 

When she was conscious again, she was on her common charging spot, Murdoc was there, and surprisingly, 2D was too, with a keyboard on his lap. Unfortunately, 2D had even more bruises than before, what's more, his nose was bleeding, but he didn't seem to care when he noticed that Cyborg was looking at him. He, instead, stood up and approached her to unplug all the cables that were plugged to her body. Murdoc was going to complain once 2D got up, but when he saw what he was going to do, he kept quiet.

"Hey." 2D smiled at her, she just looked at him in silence before reaching a hand up to his face to clean the line of blood coming from his nose. "Oh, 'm sorry." He chuckled.

"What happened?" She asked quietly. She knew Murdoc was watching them but she assumed he already knew they were close, and if he didn't, now he knew. She just didn't care anymore, because she knew she was able to protect herself and 2D, so even if she was afraid of Murdoc, she still felt capable of doing what she needed.

"I'll tell you later." He said as he sat back on his place.

Cyborg looked at him for a couple more seconds until Murdoc cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"We were writing some music." Murdoc explained, pointing at the keyboard that was now on 2D's hands.

Cyborg nodded with her head. She didn't care about that at the moment.

"Did you tell him, Creator?" She asked. Murdoc frowned at that, making it clear to Cyborg that he didn't tell him.

"Tell me wha'?" 2D asked, and the green man sighed. He now clearly didn't plan on telling 2D about his plans.

"We’re going out.” Murdoc simply said, between his teeth, as he looked down at the notebook on his lap, probably where he was writing down the ideas they had for a song.

2D was surprised at that, just like Cyborg was.

“When?”

“Tomorrow, first thing in the morning, so be up.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, there's a trigger warning in this chapter. There's mentions of self harm and light descriptions of the wounds, so if you're triggered by that maybe you would want to skip the chapter.

“What happened?” Cyborg asked again as they got to 2D’s room. She wasn’t going to stop asking until she got a good answer.

“Uh… Murdoc.” 2D replied, clearly trying to avoid details as he also avoided eye contact, keeping his head down.

“Why?”

The singer sighed before answering.

“I-” He started shaking, and Cyborg, just by that, knew she was going to be surprised with the answer. “He- He- Uhm- He… Caught me, doing… S-Stuff, he didn’t want me to do.” He said. He was still vague. Cyborg noticed how embarrassed he seemed to be admitting that.

He didn’t add anything else, so she asked another question.

“What were you doing?” She asked, and at that, 2D’s breath got caught on his throat.

“D-Doesn’t matter.” He said as he shook his head no, sitting on the bed and hugging his own legs against his chest.

He didn’t want to say anything else, but Cyborg’s gaze over him was making him nervous, and when he looked up to her, she crossed her arms, waiting for him to explain himself. He sighed, closed his eyes and raised his left arm, moving his sleeve out of the way.

Cyborg was really surprised when she found tons of bandaids on his arm, surely covering wounds. Did Murdoc do that? She saw 2D take off one of the bandaids, showing a cut, still pretty red. It was recent.

“Murdoc did that?” She asked, and was surprised when 2D shook his head and pointed a finger to himself. “What?”

“I did it. Murdoc put- Uhm- Put the bandaids on… W-Well- He first beated me, then put the bandaids.” He explained, rolling his sleeve back down, covering his arm once again. “Said I’ll be useless if I was dead.” He then added in a whisper, but Cyborg was able to hear him.

Yeah, Murdoc said that to her too. He needed 2D to be alive, she guessed why.

What surprised her, though, is the fact that Murdoc didn’t lie. She just assumed by now that everything Murdoc said was a lie. She thought he always lied. She was sure he lied about 2D harming himself too. But he wasn’t. 2D did hurt himself, and now she was terrified of leaving him alone, because Murdoc did say that he could kill himself if he was left alone. She didn’t want that to happen. And she also now assumed that was true as well, since one of the things Murdoc said now was clear to be true.

“Why did you do that?” She asked, sitting next to him. He shrugged, and sighed once again. He clearly didn’t want to have that conversation, but Cyborg needed to know what was going on.

“Guess I deserve it or somethin’.” 2D muttered, his hands now curled into fists.

“You don’t.”

“I-I don’t know!” He now exclaimed, his voice was shaky, and she wanted to hug him, but he was now moving too much to be hugged at the moment. “I-I don’t deserve it? I actually have no idea! Tell me- If I don’t deserve it, why- Why am I here in the first place?” He was now rambling, but Cyborg, short of words, just let him continue. “If I don’t deserve it, th-then why does Murdoc hit me almost every day? I think I deserve it, I-I did something to deserve it-"

"What did you do?" Cyborg interrupted. In any other occasion, 2D would be surprised by how calm she sounded, but he knew she just didn't show emotions, not because she didn't want to but because she was physically incapable of doing so.

“I-” He didn’t seem to know what to say. He took some time to think before answering, as he covered his face with his hands. “I don’t know.” He muttered, to then sigh and look at Cyborg between his fingers. “ ‘M so tired…”

“Then go to sleep.” She replied, and 2D shook his head no.

“Not that way- ‘S just- I wanna go back, I-I don’t want to be here anymore.” He said, his voice quiet and low as he spoke. “I wish… I wish Russel was here, and Noodle wasn’t dead, and Murdoc was just… Just annoying, and not a threat.”

Cyborg didn’t know what to say. What she did know was that 2D was talking about times where she didn’t exist.

“ ‘M sorry, m-maybe I should go to- To sleep. We have- Uhm- S-Stuff to do tomorrow.” He said, running a hand through his hair, moving it away from his face. It was then when Cyborg noticed how tired 2D really looked, with those big eyebags of his under his eyes.

She nodded with her head, not completely agreeing since she wanted to keep talking, but she already knew enough for the moment, so she was going to leave 2D alone, even if she didn't want to. She actually felt terrified to leave him alone after what he just told her, so she for sure was going to check up on him from time to time.

"Sleep well." She said as she got out of the room.

"Thank you." She heard 2D say as she closed the door behind herself.

Cyborg stood there for a couple seconds before going back to the storage room, once again looking for what she promised 2D.

It took her some time, but this time Murdoc didn't interrupt her, so she just took her time with it. Once she found what she was looking for, it was already pretty early in the morning, as she saw when she got out of the room and looked through a window. She cursed herself silently for not going to check on 2D, so she ran to his room, trying to be as silent as possible, and opened the door careful to not make any sound in case 2D was still sleeping.

And he was. He was still asleep, she knew it when she saw his chest rising slowly for every breath he took.

She felt relieved to see that he was still just like he was when she left him. Cyborg stepped closer to the singer to look at his face. He looked so peaceful, so relaxed and calm. That was an odd sight for her. 2D always had something going on, sometimes he was angry, other times he looked so sad, or some other mix of emotions she didn't always understand. But peaceful, never before. It was nice.

Cyborg kneeled in front of the bed and grabbed 2D's left arm, slowly rolling up his sleeve to see the bandaids covering his arm. She shook her head to herself at the poor work to patch up the wounds. She stood up, leaving what she got for 2D on his bed and left the room, looking for something to help 2D with his poorly wrapped wounds. Of course she tried to be fast so Murdoc didn't see her, and so 2D didn't wake up alone.

Unfortunately, 2D was awake when Cyborg got back to the room, and he was sitting on his bed, looking at what Cyborg got him.

“Hey.” He mumbled as he heard Cyborg get in the room, not raising his gaze. Cyborg didn’t say anything in return, just waiting for a reaction. “ ‘S this for me?” He asked.

“Yes.” Cyborg replied, and felt relieved as 2D looked up at her with a tiny smile on his face.

“Thank you.” He said back, as he put the mask on. It had a funny face, with a long blue nose, yellow eyes and a red mouth. It was silly, 2D liked it. What neither of them noticed was that Cyborg was smiling too.

“Can I see your arm?” She asked after a couple seconds of silence. 2D nodded and raised his arm, rolling the sleeve back up. Without taking off the mask, and Cyborg didn’t say anything about it.

She started carefully taking the bandaids off of 2D’s arm, discovering tons of scratches, bruises and even bite marks. She wanted to ask what happened, but she was already guessing, since there were just two possibilities. She started to clean the wounds, some of them still had dried up blood on them, so she made sure to clean that up, and as she did that, she inspected the wounds. It was actually pretty scary to think how many things were done by 2D and how many were done by Murdoc. And with that, she remembered how 2D told her how Murdoc created his own reality inside her head. She thought that, maybe, the same had happened with 2D, because he was convinced that he deserved the harm, but she was sure otherwise. Murdoc made 2D believe that he deserved all that pain, she guessed. 

“Murdoc lied to you.” She simply said, taking 2D by surprise.

“What d’you mean?” He asked, his voice slightly muffled by the mask on his face.

“You said he created his own reality in my mind.” She explained, not raising her gaze to see 2D, she was too focused on his wounds. “He did the same to you.”

After a couple seconds of silence 2D let out a shaky sigh, and with his right hand he lifted the mask from his face, letting it rest on top of his head.

“I-I-” He tried to say, but his words got caught in his throat. He sounded like he was going to cry, but he didn’t want to, so he was trying to keep the tears in their places. “I think you’re right, yeah.” He mumbled, and that made Cyborg raise her gaze, finding with a confused looking 2D. “I used to- Uhm- To- To think he saved me, but in reality he almost killed me… Twice, so I… I kind of agree with you.” He spoke quietly as he nodded slowly.

Cyborg felt proud of herself. She was doing something good, she guessed, and also, was understanding 2D more, since every one of his behaviors were really confusing her. 

She continued to work on 2D's arm in silence, until it was finished, and looked much more clean and safe. Once she was done with that, she stood up and left everything she used at the corner of the room, knowing she would use it more times since there were two people in the house that could hurt 2D. Murdoc and 2D himself.

"Where- Ahm- W-Where did you find this mask?" 2D asked as he put the mask back on his face.

"Storage room." She replied, and he nodded at that.

"So you just- You just went there to get the mask- For me?" He asked, and now was Cyborg's turn to nod with her head.

2D wanted to cry. He really was growing attached to Cyborg, huh. Even when he tried not to. She was just, sometimes, too similar to Noodle. Both took care of him the ways they knew how to. Noodle used to get in between him and Murdoc, maybe scream something at him, and Cyborg got in between them too, pointing her gun to Murdoc. He really didn't want her to do that because that was too much like a deja-vù for him, and he supposed that it was for Murdoc too. It was really hard to not compare Cyborg to Noodle, since they looked the same and had the same mannerisms, even played guitar the same way, their hands made the same movements of a self-taught guitarist.

And now he looked at her, then at the mask on his hands, and he felt like he was going to cry. But he didn't have the time to do so since Murdoc opened the door, already dressed and looked at them in surprise.

Of course he didn't know Cyborg would be there, but when he saw the bandages on 2D's left arm he understood what happened, and he didn't say anything about it.

"Are you two ready?" He asked, and both Cyborg and 2D nodded with their heads.


	8. Chapter 8

2D forgot the last time he was out, and, honestly, he thought it would be so much better than what it actually was. They were inside a car, Murdoc cursing under his breath as he drove, and Cyborg on the backseat, completely quiet. Still, as he rolled the window down and rested his face against the closed door, letting the wind comb his blue hair back and caress his face gently, he knew he missed being outside. He also looked in the retrovisor mirror to Cyborg, who was looking outside through the windows. Her face emotionless as always, but he knew how curious she was, it was too obvious, since she never had left Plastic Beach before, in her entire life, which was kinda sad, but it also was pretty interesting to look at her being surprised by everything they were passing by, even if it wasn't much, at least for him. Well, he had to remember that, even the driest desert was interesting for Cyborg since everything outside Plastic Beach was new for her.

"What are we doing, anyway?" 2D asked after a couple minutes of just silence. Murdoc didn't look at him, but the singer was able to see a smile creeping its way to Murdoc's face. That was never good, that actually made 2D feel scared. 

Was Murdoc going to kill him, maybe?

No, that didn't made sense, Murdoc did say he needed 2D to be alive. He wasn't going to kill him… Right?-No, no, he wasn't going to die today, he hoped.

"We're just getting a collaborator for the album." Murdoc replied, keeping that scary smile on his face.

"Who?" 2D asked trying to tie strings in his mind, but he was usually a slow thinker, and that, combined with how afraid he was feeling, wasn't good for his thinking process.

"That's a surprise."

2D didn't like surprises when they came from Murdoc, they never ended well. But he kept quiet about it, not wanting to have a discussion with Murdoc at that moment.

Instead of saying anything else, 2D looked back at Cyborg, who was now looking at them since they were talking after the complete silence they were in. 2D smiled at her, not because he felt happy or anything, but because she was looking back at him and he didn't really know what to say, and actually, he didn't want to say anything. And with that, they were once again in complete silence.

Until Murdoc stopped the car. They were still in the middle of nothing.

"Wha'?" 2D muttered under his breath, looking around, finding nothing. "Why do we stop 'ere?"

"We can't get too much closer." Murdoc simply replied as he got out of the car. That didn't sound safe at all.

Still, when Cyborg got out of the car too, 2D decided to do the same, putting the mask on his face trying to protect his eyes from the sun.

"Follow me. Cyborg, luv, keep your eyes open." Murdoc said as he walked towards… Nothing, apparently. 2D was still really confused.

"Yes." Cyborg said, raising her gun and looking around. She didn't know why she had to keep her eyes open, as Murdoc said, but if there was something that could harm them, she was going to protect them… Mostly 2D, since she cared for him the most and he was the only one that, as far as she knew, couldn't defend himself.

2D was actually terrified, he had never before seen Cyborg look around so intently, holding tightly the gun in her hands as they followed Murdoc, but he guessed that was part of her purpose, protect, and he had to remember himself, Cyborg cared about him, so she probably was trying to protect him, more than Murdoc at that point.

“Here it is.” Murdoc said quietly, and that fed on 2D’s terror. At that point, it was obvious they weren’t doing something good. Well- It never was something good when it was Murdoc’s idea, but usually the only one that ended up affected was Murdoc himself, but now, both 2D and Cyborg were about to get dragged too, and he didn’t really like the idea. “Okay, you two stay here, watch out.” He said, turning to see the other too.

“B-But we-” 2D tried to say.

“Shut up, someone’s gonna hear you.” Murdoc interrupted. “And better keep that mask on, that way they don’t see your face.” 2D just nodded at that, to then watch Murdoc turn around and disappear around a corner.

2D looked around, they were outside of a big house. He was sure it was a mansion, even. It was huge, maybe the same size as Kong Studios used to be. He already guessed what Murdoc was doing; the same thing he did with him. He wondered if Cyborg was okay with it, because 2D totally wasn’t, he just wasn’t able to discuss with Murdoc, not when Niccals obviously had the power of ruining his entire life as he had done it countless times before. Well- Not countless, it just felt like a lot of times, but he was sure he could count them with his fingers.

“What are we doing?” Cyborg asked, and 2D sighed, feeling actually nervous to say it out loud.

“ ‘M pretty sure Murdoc’s kidnappin’ someone.” 2D mumbled, and Cyborg turned around really quickly to see him, clearly surprised.

“What?” She asked. “He can’t do that.”

2D just stayed quiet, looking at her, waiting for her to understand what he meant by that. He shouldn’t, but he could, and he already did. 2D wasn’t there because he wanted to, after all. She looked back at him, until she finally got what he meant and looked down at her gun.

“We’re helping him.” She mumbled.

“Yeah, but- What else can we do? We’ve got no one else, jus' us, if something-If- What if- …” 2D sighed frustrated by how hard it was for him to express himself. “Murdoc is important to me, okay? And I can’t let him do this kind of stuff alone. I could easily just walk away right now, but I won’t.” He muttered, but Cyborg was able to hear him.

“I thought you hated him.” She said, softly. She sounded exactly like Noodle, her voice had such gentleness, and it sounded so sweet, 2D had to take off his mask to look at her just to make sure that Noodle wasn’t there. She wasn’t, it was Cyborg, but- God, wasn’t he freaked out by the similarities they shared.

“I do, I really do. Relationships are really complicated, but… Remember I told you how we used to be a family?” Cyborg nodded. “It’s really hard to get over that.” He spoke, as he put the mask back on to hide his face. And didn’t say anything else.

So they stayed in silence, because 2D didn’t feel like explaining himself, and Cyborg really didn’t know what to say. She guessed 2D was right, relationships really were hard, because she did have a lot of troubles with the only two relationships she had in her entire life. She got so lost in her mind she just stopped paying attention around, not really prepared for anything, as she knew Murdoc wanted her to be. 

“Run!” They heard, and both of them turned around. There came Murdoc, running faster than Cyborg ever saw him, or even 2D. “Plan didn’t work out! Better get out of here!”

“I’m sorry, what?!” Was all 2D was able to get out before Murdoc grabbed him by the arm and dragged him back to the car.

Cyborg was left behind, following them and hopping into the car and closing the door. 

“Murdoc, what is going on?!” 2D kept asking as he looked around, clearly scared.

“I got caught! They’re following us!”

“Who?!”

“The police, Stuart! Shut up, I’m driving!”

And 2D obeyed, he stayed quiet, but he clearly wasn’t any calmer than before. Cyborg was looking back too, trying to see if there was someone following them, but there was nothing, so she was calming down.

“What were you thinking?!” 2D asked once he made sure too that no one was behind them.

“What was I thinking?! I don’t know, it worked out well with you!”

2D took the mask off, leaving it on top of his head so his face was visible, just to show how mad he was. And actually, the bruises on his face, just made clear how really tired he was.

“So you were going to kidnap someone!” 2D said in an accusatory tone, which made Murdoc tighten his hold on the steering wheel.

“I wouldn’t say kidnap, it’s more like-!”

“Don’t even try.” Now it was 2D’s turn to interrupt Murdoc, who just frowned but kept quiet. He didn’t have a good excuse, after all.

2D looked around one more time, and just when he thought they were safe, tons of bullets were shot against the car, to which both 2D and Murdoc screamed in fear.

“For fucks sake!” Murdoc shouted as he tried to speed up the car, and just with that, one of the bullets went right across Cyborg’s head, leaving a hole on the right side of her head.

“Cyborg!” 2D exclaimed, turning around to see if she was alright.

And, thank God, she just looked shocked. Obviously there was a bullet hole in her head now, but apart from that, she seemed okay, which made 2D sigh in relief and sit back on his seat, covering his face with both of his hands. He was relieved by the fact that she was a robot, after all, so she could live with a bullet hole in her head.

But that didn’t change the fact that they were in an actual persecution, as now, since they were speeding, a cop was following, and they really didn’t want to be caught by the police, since literally Murdoc just tried to kidnap someone, and already kidnaped 2D before. Basically, they weren’t going to be able to make it without going to jail.

Cyborg looked at 2D, who was clearly terrified, as he bit his nails out of anxiety and gripped his shirt with his free hand. She then looked at Murdoc, he looked equally as stressed as 2D, but he was angry, and 2D was afraid. Murdoc was holding really tightly to the steering wheel as he sometimes looked to the retrovisor mirror to check how far they were from the cop, to find the police car just behind them and groan in frustration. So she grabbed the gun that was beside her, rolled down the window and pointed to the car behind them.

“No, Cyborg! What are you doing?!” Murdoc said, reaching back, trying to get her back inside the car, afraid she could maybe fall out, or even kill the cop, which wasn’t what they wanted since that could get them into even more trouble. But Cyborg didn’t listen to him as she began to shoot, and didn’t stop until the cop was out of the road.

“Shit! Cyborg, get inside the car!” Murdoc insisted, and this time, Cyborg obeyed, and sat back down.

2D looked out of the window, trying to see if the cop was alright (or at least not dead), but he saw nothing, so he turned back to Murdoc, who was watching him intently, waiting for him to say something. 2D assumed he didn’t want the cop to be dead either.

“Well?” Murdoc asked, and the blue haired singer just shrugged, to which the bassist frowned, even more frustrated than before. Everything was going down at that second.

Soon enough, another car started following them, and that one wasn't a police car, or at least it didn’t seem like it. 2D felt even more terrified. What was going on?

“Uuh… Murdoc” He called, and the bassist turned to see him, obviously stressed out. “, someone else is following us.”

“Another cop?” He asked, his eyes returning to the road every few seconds. 2D shook his head no, which only made Murdoc’s stress even worse. 2D wondered if Murdoc knew why that specific car was following them, but he wasn’t able to ask as something else grabbed his attention. A gigant black cloud covered the sky, which made Murdoc curse under his breath, and 2D was going to ask about that, but once again, something else catched his attention.

Something was happening to Cyborg. Apparently the bullet did affect her, as her body was shaking in a very inhuman way, and she was holding her head trying to keep it still, while also, some black liquid was going down her face.

“W-What is happening to her?” 2D asked, to which Murdoc looked back.

“Things can’t get worse now, huh.” He muttered. But things did get worse, since, when they both turned back to face the road, they were now falling from a cliff right to the water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stylo' great


	9. Chapter 9

2D really thought he was going to die at that second, when the water got inside the car by the broken glasses and he almost didn’t have time to catch his breath. He was sure he was crying, but it was hard to know when he was surrounded by water. He wanted to say his goodbyes, he saw his life go by in front of his eyes, but before he could let out all the air, he was suddenly breathing again. He looked around. They were now in a submarine.

“You okay, mate?” Murdoc said, looking back at 2D, who just nodded, still in shock.

“We… We’re alive.” He muttered, holding his face with both of his hands. He was soaking wet, and cold, but he didn’t care anymore. He was alive, and he didn’t think he would be that happy to be alive in a situation like that.

Guess he did appreciate his life, at least a bit.

“Heh, built this thing when I got to Plastic Beach, I knew it would be useful sometime.” Murdoc explained, and 2D nodded again.

That was smart as hell, but he wasn't going to say that and let it get to Murdoc’s head to feed his ego, so he kept quiet. Until he realised something.

“Cyborg!” He exclaimed, standing up and getting close to her.

Her face was now clean, not more weird black liquid on her face. 2D looked at her, she was completely out and he didn’t know what to do.

“I-Is she… Uhm…” He wanted to ask, but the words didn’t get out of his mouth, getting caught in his throat. Dead, he wanted to say, but just think about that made him want to cry. Noodle was already dead, he didn’t want Cyborg to be too, but it seemed like that was what was going on there.

“Huh?” Murdoc muttered, turning around to see Cyborg. “Aw, shit- No, she’s not dead.” He said, pressing a button and getting up too, leaning down and looking at the bullet hole. “But I do have to fix her.”

“You can fix her?” 2D asked, clearly expecting a positive answer, which was what he got when Murdoc nodded with his head. “Do it!” He said, and the bassist rolled his eyes.

“You really grew attached to this thing, huh.”

2D frowned. “Don’t call her that.”

Murdoc sighed. “Okay, I’ll fix her, but I’ll warn you, it might take some time.”

“I don’t care, do it.”

“All right, all right, calm down.” The bassist said as he stood up once again and walked around gathering materials to fix Cyborg.

2D really was sounding like Cyborg, he thought to himself as he remembered the first conversation they had. “Call him Creator, he’s Creator.” Her voice sounded in his head. He couldn’t help but chuckle at that. He guessed he did grow attached to her as he was now desperate for Murdoc to fix her, just to know she was okay.

“Where are we goin’?” 2D asked after some minutes of silence which he spent just looking at Murdoc fix the robotic girl.

“Back to Plastic Beach, and I’m pretty sure we won’t be able to leave for a long time.” Murdoc replied, making 2D raise an eyebrow.

“Why not?”

Murdoc stopped working for a couple seconds, and sighed, looking down at his hands.

“I… Uhm… Well-” He looked up to 2D, clearly looking for the right words. “There’s some guys behind my back, Dee.”

“What?!” 2D asked, surprised, which was actually weird, because it was Murdoc, he really shouldn’t be surprised by that. “What did you do?!”

“Look, I needed some money and-”

“You’re unbelievable, Murdoc!” 2D continued to shout, clearly exasperated.

“Hey, what would you have done, huh?”

“Get a job, not make a deal with some twisted freaks and scam them!”

“Oh, yeah, you’re so smart, Stu.” Murdoc said sarcastically.

“I can’t believe you.” 2D said, now more calm, but still clearly mad at the bassist. “You get in trouble with some dangerous guys and you just- Just- Bring me here, build Cyborg, hoping that- That- What? I don’t know, I don’t understand you, Murdoc! You built Cyborg just so she could protect you and get you money, I guess!”

“I built Cyborg because I miss Noodle, okay? Not just for money!” Murdoc shouted back, leaving 2D completely quiet as he wasn’t expecting that reply at all. The bassist sighed, and just continued to fix Cyborg. “I really hoped it would go back to normal if I had… Noodle, here, but it isn’t the same.”

2D now felt bad. Murdoc always did that, huh. Twist everything around so he was the victim.

“I really killed Noodle.” Murdoc muttered. “I just- She was an amazing kid-”

“She was.” 2D muttered.

“I really thought she would be able to escape from there and make it just fine. Guess I sometimes forget she was just a kid after all.”

2D wanted to die. He felt so guilty. Murdoc was spitting his feelings out to him and he felt so, so guilty. He didn’t know what to say, but he needed to say sorry.

"... I'm sorry." He mumbled. "I-I mean, for blaming you so much for it."

"Yeah, don't get too soft on me, I know it's not completely my fault." Murdoc said, back to his normal Murdoc self.

2D chuckled and nodded.

Murdoc was right, it did take him some time to fix Cyborg, and even when he was finished, the bullet hole was still there, 2D just assumed it wouldn't bother anymore. It didn't bother him, so he hoped it wouldn't bother Cyborg either.

"There, she should be up at any second." Murdoc said as he stood up and cleaned his hands. "Now, don't bother me, I'm driving." He then added, sitting back down at the front.

2D looked at him for a couple seconds before returning his gaze to Cyborg. It was so weird to know that a literal bullet went across her head and she was still alive, but, that's how cyborgs worked, he assumed. Still, it was super strange to look through the hole, and to know that it would be there forever. He actually got so lost in his mind while thinking about that, he lost track of time, and he just stayed there, staring at Cyborg until she woke up, sitting up very quickly, and opening her mouth letting a whole ass octopus out of it, taking 2D out of his thoughts and leaving him terrified of what he just saw, but Cyborg seemed completely unfazed by it as she cleaned up under her mouth with a hand and turned around to see where they were.

"Cyborg." 2D muttered, to which the robotic girl turned around to see him.

"2D." Cyborg said back, looking at him, seeing the obvious signs on his face that showed that he had been crying. "What happened?" She asked.

2D sighed before replying. "I-I thought you were dead." He said.

So 2D did care about Cyborg. That made her sure. 2D did care about her.

That made her smile a little bit.

"Good thing you're back, luv." Murdoc said, not looking back, but knowing that Cyborg was awake as he heard her and 2D talk. "How was your nap?" He asked playfully, but Cyborg didn't answer, she just looked out, to the sea.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"Plastic Beach. They're probably following us." Murdoc explained.

"Who?" 

"Some bad guys."

Cyborg didn't believe him, so she turned around to see 2D, kind of asking him if he believed Murdoc. 2D nodded with his head, making Cyborg feel more sure. Because 2D never lied.

"We're actually not that far." Murdoc said, catching the attention of the other two. He was looking by the periscope, to then push it up and point a finger up and smile. "We should get out."

Cyborg agreed. If there were bad guys behind them, they could harm 2D, and that was everything she was trying to avoid at that moment, so, if she had to obey Murdoc, she'd do it. Still, it didn't surprise her the way 2D looked at her when she brought a hand to her forehead, she hadn't explained anything that was in her mind to him, after all.

So they got out of the submarine, standing on top of it. Murdoc with a telescope in hand, Cyborg with her gun, and 2D with his mask on top of his head. They saw nothing but fog, and both 2D and Cyborg were pretty confused by it, they expected something else. On the other hand, Murdoc knew what he was going to find as he looked through his telescope.

"There you are…" He mumbled, to then turn around to see Cyborg. "Shoot." He ordered, pointing with his finger.

Cyborg looked at Murdoc for a couple seconds before raising her gun and pointing. It took her just a couple seconds to shoot, two bullets did the trick, and seconds after that, she heard something fall into the water. She guessed she shot right to the target.

2D looked around. He didn't understand a lot of stuff, he wondered if Cyborg understood something, but knowing Murdoc, he probably didn't tell her anything either. The fog in front of them cleared up, finally showing Plastic Beach. They were back, and just for a couple seconds, 2D was actually happy to be there.

"C'mon, guys, we've got no time, we better be prepared before the Black Cloud gets here." Murdoc said, as he went back inside the submarine to get closer to the island. Both 2D and Cyborg followed him inside.

"Black Cloud?" Cyborg asked.

"The bad guys."

The robotic girl nodded at that, understanding.

Once they were all back in Plastic Beach, 2D and Cyborg went inside, right to the storage room to find some guns.

"We're really doing this." 2D muttered under his breath as he grabbed a long gun and put it aside. "We're really fighting for our lives."

Cyborg turned around to look at him. She hadn't seen him fight back, ever, she didn't even know if he was capable of doing so. She was scared, she was sure something bad was going to happen to him, and she didn't want him to get hurt.

"Actually, Stuart, I think you should go to your room." Murdoc said, standing at the door, making both Cyborg and 2D turn around to look at him.

"What? No, I can't let you do this without me." 2D replied, standing up and walking towards Murdoc.

"Yeah you can, and you're going to."

"Why can't I go with you?" The blue haired man insisted.

"Because it's too dangerous."

"That's why I should go with you! Three is better than two!"

"I don't want you to die, 2D!" Murdoc shouted back, taking 2D by surprise. "Noodle's already dead, Russel's lost, I don't want to lose you too!" He continued. "I can always fix Cyborg but if you die I can't bring you back to life, and I don't plan on making a cyborg version of you!"

2D didn't know what to say. Murdoc never showed any sort of… Kindness, to 2D, he actually thought that Murdoc never cared about him at all. But that showed him he was wrong. Still, he wanted to go, he didn't want to let Murdoc and Cyborg do it alone, and he didn't want to hide and just hope for the better.

But when Cyborg put her hand on top of 2D's shoulder, he noticed she wanted him to stay too.

"Please go to your room. We'll be okay." She said, and 2D sighed, defeated.

"Be careful, please." He said, as he hugged Cyborg, which she returned.

Murdoc just looked at them. It was actually really sad how Cyborg knew Murdoc for longer and she still was more attached to 2D. But he guessed that made sense, Murdoc always lied and then 2D revealed the truth for her. She obviously trusted the singer more.

When 2D and Cyborg broke the hug, the blue haired man turned around to see Murdoc. They both stayed silent, not knowing what to say, until 2D decided to hug Murdoc too. The bassist didn't hug back, but he didn't push 2D away either.

"We'll see you later." Murdoc muttered as 2D pulled away.

"You will?"

The bassist nodded. "We will."

2D sighed, and walked out of the room, not without waving goodbye to the other two as he got out.

Cyborg looked at Murdoc. She was still a little confused, but she guessed, maybe Murdoc wasn't as bad as she used to think. Murdoc turned around after a couple seconds, and caught her staring, to which he raised an eyebrow.

"What?" He asked, and she shook her head side to side.

"Nothing." Cyborg lied, going back to take some guns.

"We should get out already." Murdoc said, putting a hand on top of Cyborg's shoulder.

"Yes." She nodded, grabbing a gun.

"Don't be scared." Murdoc said, walking towards the door. "We'll be okay."

"Yes." She repeated, now whispering just for her to hear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On Melancholly Hill is great.


End file.
